Alaska Used as International Climate-Change Talking Point

An Alaskan senator is railing against President Obama’s pledges to help developing countries while using her state as a talking point.

Robert Dillon, spokesman for Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Obama is fond of using Alaska as an example when talking about climate change. The president visited the nation’s northernmost state this summer to see the effects of climate change firsthand and has referred to the trip multiple times.

“Given those statements, you’d think that helping Alaska would be a priority for the administration,” Dillon said. “But, you’d be exactly wrong. Alaska and its residents are still nothing more than a talking point, trotted out in support of the administration’s climate regulations and now its commitments to somehow send taxpayers dollars to the rest of the world.”

Dillon said the administration is also making life harder for residents in a state that relies heavily on oil production.

Environmental regulations and a depressed market are strangling oil producers in Alaska, Dillon said. The state needs the money it collects from oil and gas producers to fund many of its economic and environmental priorities, he added.